Beyond Books Social & Emotional Learning in School Libraries

By Kelsie McLeod and Rachael Welsh

Mental health matters. That has become a rallying cry on social media and with those who work with children as we see the struggles that young people face every day. We post positive mantras in our classrooms, do emotional check-ins with students in the mornings, and share “it gets better” messages on social media. Have you ever wondered what has created the push to break the stigma about discussing mental health?

As of 2021, 1/6 of the youths (ages 6-17) in Texas have experienced symptoms of a mental health disorder. 314,000 Texans ages 12-17 have depression; of those 314,000, 64.7% did not receive any treatment — that’s 200,960 young Texans struggling with a treatable disorder. Nearly 20% of high school students will report serious thoughts about suicide and 9% report a suicide attempt.

Below: Students making friendship bracelets during the “Destress for the Tests” program during Finals Week

20%

Of High School Students

will report serious thoughts about suicide

Why are students in Texas not getting the needed mental health services? There are four main barriers to mental health services:

1. Affordability

2. The Texas mental health professional shortage

3. Transportation

4. The stigma associated with seeking mental health services.

John F. Kennedy once said, “Children are the world’s most valuable resource and its best hope for the future.” Librarian Rachael Welsh and Licensed Professional Counselor Kelsie McLeod adopted this as their mantra to shape their work in the public school setting. From 2019 to 2023, Rachael and Kelsie worked together at Brazoswood High School in Clute, TX, a 6A school that served grades 9-12. According to the Surgeon General’s Advisory on Protecting Youth Mental Health, one of the sectors necessary to improve youth mental health is the support created in educational, community, and childcare settings.

This is where the focus on social and emotional learning in school comes in. Social and emotional learning (SEL) is a term for the way children acquire social and emotional skills, like managing emotions, making responsible decisions, handling stress, setting goals, and building healthy relationships. SEL has five main skills: self-awareness, social awareness, responsible decision-making, self-management, and relationship skills. Our students are dealing with issues that are unique to this generation and the library is the perfect environment to help students build these skills.

Libraries are community spaces, especially in our schools. It is our job as educators to create spaces for all of our students, especially for those who don’t have many safe spaces. It doesn’t take much to create a welcoming space — something as simple as standing in the hallway greeting students during passing periods does so much to let them know that the library has an open-door policy.

Passive programming, or activities that do not require supervision or teaching, is the first step in creating a welcoming environment for students. Many passive programming activities lend themselves to social emotional regulation — coloring pages, jigsaw puzzles, and fidget toys were always available in the library. Together Kelsie and Rachael created a “zen den”, an area of the library that utilized light therapy and had weighted blankets available for students experiencing anxiety to use. There was always a quiet space in the library for students who needed to get away from the hustle of a public school lunchroom or hallway. There has been a lot of conversation in recent years about libraries being loud and vibrant spaces, but we also need to remember our students who need respite.

Kelsie and Rachael also created a Supply Station to help students with physical needs — canvas boxes filled with menstruation supplies, deodorant, disposable toothbrushes, toothpaste, face wipes, etc. If students don’t have basic needs met, how can we expect them to be able to emotionally regulate, much less focus on schoolwork? Students knew that they could come in and take what they needed — there was no need to ask so they were able to keep their dignity when they needed hygiene necessities. Even teachers took advantage of the Supply Station — we all have had a day where we have fallen victim to our body needing something unexpected or we were rushed and forgot deodorant!

The biggest benefit to the Brazoswood students was the strong relationship that Kelsie and Rachael built. Because the library was established as a safe space for all with so many opportunities to find a place of belonging, Kelsie knew that she could send kids to the library and they would be cared for, no matter what they needed. One example of their teamwork was an occasion when a student had spiraled because they were struggling with an English essay. Kelsie told the student to go to the library and while they were on their way, she quickly called and explained the situation to Rachael. When the student arrived, they were still upset but because Kelsie had told them to come to the library, they trusted Rachael to help, regardless of what their anxiety told them. Not only were they able to work on the essay, when they turned it in and got the grade back, the student shared the good news! While this might not seem like anything out of the ordinary — a librarian helping with an essay — what Kelsie didn’t tell Rachael was that the stress caused by this essay was leading to suicidal thoughts by the student.

Kelsie was able to provide the mental health support to manage those thoughts while partnering with and trusting Rachael to meet the student’s educational needs and to handle the situation that was causing the suicidal thoughts. This was the beauty of their working relationship and the importance of the LPC/librarian partnership.

Over the years that Kelsie and Rachael worked together at Brazoswood, the number of students the campus LPCs worked with increased, but the number of crises decreased. When the LPC program began, the projection was that the campus LPCs would work with 5-10% of the student population; their